The impact of high speed railway on government expenditure on poverty alleviation in China —Evidence from Chinese poverty counties

Abstract

In this paper, we evaluate the role of the high speed railway (HSR) project, one of the largest transportation infrastructure projects in the world, in poverty alleviation in China. This study combines county-level data from the China County Statistical Yearbooks with HSR data from the China Railway Yearbooks. The method of difference-in-differences is applied to examine the HSR connection effect on government expenditure in poverty alleviation across Chinese poverty counties over the period of 2010-2018. The results show that the HSR connection has a significantly positive impact on reducing government expenditure in poverty alleviation. Our results, which are based on alternative measurement of poverty alleviation and possible bias arising from endogeneity issue, are robust. This paper highlights that HSR can help achieve accessibility of rural area and poverty alleviation simultaneously. An understanding of the effect is critical for policymakers to promote intra-regional development, balancing efficiency and regional equality.

Keywords:

• High speed railway
• government expenditure on poverty alleviation
• poverty counties

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1 http://news.gaotie.cn/yunying/2021-10-20/591725.html

2 The construction costs of HSR range from 80 to 120 million RMB per km (US$13-20 million) excluding stations (Bullock, Salzberg, and Jin 2012).

3 http://www.bjreview.com/Opinion/Governance/202008/t20200818_800217949.html

4 http://www.china-railway.com.cn/

5 https://media.weibo.cn/article?id=2309404330498322203813

6 Major technical stipulation on railway, the Ministry of Railway, 2012.

7 https://insights.ceicdata.com/

8 https://www.wind.com.cn/Default.aspx

9 “Administration of Special Government Finance Funds for Poverty Alleviation”《财政专项扶贫资金管理办法》.

10 https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/chinas-poverty-alleviation-has-made-great-contribution-to-global-poverty-reduction-301065055.html

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by National Social Science Foundation of China (grant number 21BJL088).

Notes on contributors

Lichao Wu

Lichao Wu is an associate professor of International Economics in the Department of International Economics and Business at Xiamen University. Her research interests focus on international strategies and economic development. Her research articles have appeared in Research Policy, Economics Letters, Land Use Policy. She has presented her research papers several times in conferences such as the Academy of International Business, Academy of Management, EU-SPRI etc.

Yanpeng Jiang

Yanpeng Jiang is a research professor of School of Urban and Regional Science at East China Normal University, his research interests focus on urban and regional governance.

Fan Yang

Fan Yang is a master student in the School of Agricultural Economics and Rural Development at Renmin University of China. His research interests focus on agricultural economics and rural development in China.